Apparatus for aseptically pouring a bacteriological substrate or the like into cover-carrying vessels



28, 1962 K. o. L. SILVERSTOLPE 3,050,915

APPARATUS FOR ASEPTICALLY POURING A BACTERIOLOGICAL SUBSTRATE OR THE LIKE INTO COVER-CARRYING VESSELS Filed 001;. 5, 1960 Awnvmf United States Patent APPARATUS FOR ASEPTICALLY POURING A BAC- TERIOLOGICAL SUBSTRATE OR THE LIKE INTO COVER-CARRYING VESSELS Karl Oskar Lennart Silverstolpe, Skytteholmsvagen 26, Solna, Sweden Filed Oct. 5, 1960, Ser'. No. 60,658 6 Claims. (Cl. 53111) The present invention relates to an apparatus for aseptically pouring a bacteriological substrate, such as agar, into cover-carrying vessels, usually so-called Petri cups.

According to the invention such apparatus comprises a sterile-chamber through which the vessels are passed by means of a suitable conveyer, a spout serving for discharging the substrate opening into the sterile-chamber and having disposed adjacent to it a cam member which is engaged by the edge of the covers of the vessels as these are conveyed through the chamber, causing the covers to be raised enabling the spout end to protrude above the interior of the vessel so as, upon a dosage device being actuated, to allow a metered quantity of substrate to fiow into the vessel, after which the covers return automatically to their closed position on the vessels.

The apparatus is labour-saving as well as time-saving in that it enables the cups to be filled much more rapidly than manually. It is also very important that 100% sterility will be obtained owing to the fact that no touching of the cups by hand is necessary, as is the case when substrate is filled manually.

For explaining the invention, reference is had to an embodiment of the apparatus illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic side elevation of the apparatus;

FIG. 2 is a corresponding plan view;

FIG. 3, on an enlarged scale, shows a section through the cover-lifting device within the sterile-chamber;

FIG. 4 is a front view of thelast-mentioned device.

Numeral 1 designates a table on which the apparatus is mounted. The apparatus comprises a receptacle 2 containing a water bath, this receptacle being adjustable vertically along a column 3 projecting upwards from the table. Disposed in the water bath is a container 4 made of stainless steel or other suitable material and containing the bacteriological substrate, for instance agar. This container is provided with an electrically driven impeller agitator 5, a bacteriological air-filter 6 and a siphon system 7 for drawing substrate from the container and transferring the same to a dosage device which is designated by 8 and is placed on the table 1 at a lower level than the substrate container 4. Designated by 9 is a pump, for instance a conventional rubber ball, by means of which one can fill the siphon system in order to start its functioning. The substrate container 4 and its accessories can easily be autoclaved, and the container can readily be removed from and placed into the water bath for refilling a new charge of substrate. The water bath is electrically heated and provided with a thermostat device 10 to maintain its temperature at a constant value.

The siphon conduit 7, as mentioned before, is connected to a dosage device 8, and projecting from the latter is a tube 11 having a spout end portion 12 which projects into a sterile-chamber 13 placed on the table 1.

In its simplest form the dosage device 8 may consist of a plunger 14 adapted, by being moved towards and away from the abutment member 15 attached to the table 1, to squeeze flat and to open, respectively, the siphon conduit 7 passed between the plunger and the abutment member and being, for instance, a rubber hose. The plunger 14 may be operated in any suitable manner; for instance it may be urged towards the abutment member 15 by a Patented Aug. 28, 1962 spring and be moved in the opposite sense by an electromagnet against the action of the spring. 7

In the embodiment shown the sterile-chamber 13 is substantially circular and provided with a star-shaped rotary conveyer 16 for the Petri cups 17 .or the like into which substrate is to be poured. The air within the chamber 13 is maintained sterile in any suitable way, preferably by meansof lamps 18 radiating ultraviolet rays. The chamber 13 is formed in one sidewall with an elongated opening 19 into which projects a portion 'of a rotatable disc 20 mounted on the table 1. Stationary arranged above this disc 20 .is a spirally shaped guide rail 21.

Petri cups 17 when placed near the centre of the disc 20, as the disc rotates will be guided along the rail 21 and will be fed in succession into the sterilized chamber 13 where they are received in the star-shaped conveyer 1'6 and will be moved by the latter along a circular path and will finally leave the chamber at 22.

Arranged above the disc 20 is suitably a vertical shaft 26 within which a pile of Petri cups 17 is stored and the bottom edge of which is spaced above the surface of the disc 20 by an amount just sufiicient to cause one cup at a time to be removed from the shaft as the disc rotates.

Within the sterilized chamber 13, near the location of the spout 12 through which substrate is discharged, there is disposed a cam member 23 having an arcuate top sur-,

face 24. This arrangement is so devised that, during rotation of the conveyer 16, the edge of the covers 25 of the Petri cups 17 or the like will move into engagement with the cam surface 24 and will thus be raised by the latter, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, whereby the fixed spout 12 will haveits outlet end projecting above. the interior of the cups to cause ametered amount of substrate to pour into the latter upon actuation of the dosage device 8. As the rotation of the conveyer 16 is continued, the cover 25 will again be lowered, andthe Petri cup thus closed will leave the sterile-chamber in the manner already described.

The actuation of the dosage device, of course, is suitably synchronized with the rotation of the conveyer 16 so as to allow substrate to be discharged only when the spout 12 is situated above a Petri cup of which the cover has been raised.

Various modifications of the arrangement described are, of course, conceivable within the scope of the claims. Thus it is possible to use instead of the rotary conveyer 16 and the rotary feed-in disc 20 a straight conveyer for moving the Petri cups through the sterilized chamber.

What I claim is:

1. Apparatus for aseptically pouring a bacteriological substrate into vessels each having a cover protruding with at least one portion above said vessel and tiltable relatively to the vessel, said apparatus comprising a sterile chamber, a conveyor for passing subsequent vessels along a moving path through said sterile chamber, container means for said bacteriological substrate, conduit means for connecting said container means with said sterile chamber, a spout at the sterile chamber-end of said conduit means, extending into said moving path, a dosage device in said conduit means, allowing upon operation a metered quantity to pass, and a cam-member extending along part of said moving path in said chamber and engaging said protruding portion of the cover of each vessel passing along it so as to tilt the cover to a predetermined angular position in a predetermined point of the moving path and to release it upon disengagement, said spout being located in said predetermined point of the moving path.

2. An apparatus for aseptically pouring a bacteriological substrate into vessels each having a cover protruding with at least one portion above said vessel and rockable around an edge of said vessel, said apparatus comprising moving path through said sterile chamber, container means for said bacteriologicalsubstrate, conduit means for con-;

necting said container means with said sterile chamber, a spout at the sterile-chamber-end of said conduit means extending into said moving path, a dosage device in said conduit means allowing upon operation a metered quantity to pass, and a cam-member extending along part of said moving path within said chamber and engaging said protruding portion of the cover so as to rock it to a predetermined angular position in a predetermined point of the moving path and to release it upon disengagement, said spout being located in said predetermined point of the moving path.

3. An apparatus for aseptically pouring a bacteriological substrate into vessels each having a cover protruding with at least one portion above said vessel and tiltable around an edge of said vessel, said apparatus comprising a sterile chamber confined by circular walls, a feed-in device including a rotatable disk-shaped member for feeding subsequent vessels into said chamber, and a slot in the wall of said chamber for allowing passing of said disk-shaped member upon rotation, a spirally shaped guide means fixed above said rotating disk-shaped member and cooperating with it so as to direct the vessels rotating.

with said disk-shapedmember to said sterile chamber, means for carrying said vessels along a moving path through said sterile chamber, container means for said bacteriological substrate, conduit means for connecting said container means with said sterile chamber, a spout at the sterile-chamber-end of said conduit means, extending into said moving path, a dosage device in said conduit means allowing upon operation a metered quantity to pass, and a cam-member extending along part of said moving path in said chamber and engaging said protruding portion of the cover so as to tilt the cover to a predetermined angular position in a predetermined point of the moving path and releasing it upon disengagement, said spout being located in said predetermined point of the moving path. a

4. An apparatus for aseptically pouring a bacteriological substrate into vessels each having a cover protruding with at least one portion above said vessel and tiltable around an edge of said vessel, said apparatus comprising a sterile chamber, a conveyor for passing subsequent vessels along a moving path through said sterile chamber,

containermeans for said bacteriological substrate, consaid protruding portion of the cover so as to tilt it to a,

predetermined angular position in a predetermined point of the moving path andto release it after disengagement, said spout being located in said predetermined point of the moving path, and means for actuating said dosage device in synchronism with the rotation of said conveyor so as to cause substrate to be discharged in the position I of a vessel in said predetermined point of the moving path.

5. An apparatus according to claim 1, in which said conduit means includes pump means of syphon type for initiating passing of fluid through said conduit means.

6. An apparatus according to claim 4, in which said dosage device comprises a flexible conduit portion inserted in said conduit means, and squeezing means for maintain-V ing said flexible conduit portion in squeezed condition and in released condition respectively for regulating the passing of said substrate. 7

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,337,170 Wareham Dec. 21, 1943 2,346,118 Stover Apr. 4, 1944' 2,578,815 Kronquest Dec. 18, 1951 2,606,707 Tambini et al Aug. 12, 1952 2,931,147 Barnby Apr. 5, 1960 

